[Magazines] Autosport Magazine - Your Opinions (merged)

[Marbot]

Originally posted by Kicking-back
Autosport is good at what it does.

The problem, for many of us on here is that what it does is not what we want it to do.

But research and sales figures will always dictate the shape of things, that's life.

That's a bit like F1 in general,don't you think.

[allenbrown]

I've just cancelled my subscription. After 28 years.

There's more than one way to kill a magazine. You can stand still. Or you can go in the wrong direction.

Allen

[Don Capps]

John McIlroy,

No offense, but as someone who started reading Autosport in 1954 and continued to read it regularly until 1998, I find your justification for the greatest crashes piece not only lame, but lame-brained. When I finally dropped my subscription and just stopped reading Autosport altogether several years, I thought it was a pretty sorry excuse for what had once been a fine magazine. The few examples of Autosport I have scanned lately are, as if that were possible, even worse. Which is really saying something, believe me.

I have no doubts that you think that your decision to run such a piece is justified since you must market and sell your product, but it is obvious that the Autosport that many of us once looked forward to reading each week is long dead.

I popped in here from my normal perch over at The Nostalgia Forum at Atlas when I found out that you had tried to justify your decision. Having now read it, it merely reinforces my belief that the Apocalypse is certainly upon us and Evil seems to stalk the earth in the form of Haymarket the Horrible.

Yes, I have given Paul at Motor Sport a vote of non-confidence as well. It ws bad enough before and now the red banner....

At any rate, perhaps I have what are just seemingly unreasonable expectations for a magazine. At one time, it was nice to have Autosport and On Track to cover the contemporary motor racing scene. Now, I could really care less if your rag vanished form the newsstands. I never thought I would ever dream of having such a thought cross my mind, but this latest idiotic idea makes me think that you and your staff have completely lost the bubble.

While you might pick up a few zero-brained morons with your latest effort to boost circulation, you have probably lost more of the folks who actually cared about Autosport.

My decision to drop Autosport in 1998 was not a spur of the moment decision, but one that took years to finally make. Once I did do, I will admit that from time to time I would see an issue and even buy it, something that I did from time to time up to fairly recently. I never saw anthing to cause me to second guess my original decision, but I kept wondering if it were just me at time. Obviously, this was not the case.

I give you brownie points for having the moxie to try to justify the unjustifiable, but you guys have really hit rock bottom. You seem to have no shame in how you sell your rag.

I see no reason to hope for anything better in the future.

Sincerely,

Don Capps

[Craig]

Sadly Austosport is no longer for me either after this latest **** that has been published. It has been going further and further downhill for the last few years and, at times, I have wondered why I continued to subscribe. However, when my current subscription expires, I will not be renewing. I have no real interest in F1 any more and I most certainly do not wish to see this sort of **** when I open the magazine. You slate the other mag for running pics of Alex's shunt yet I can see you publishing the exact same in a year or two 'because it sells'

Sorry, but this is yet another long term reader (with the past 30 years+ to prove the interest!) who has had enough.

[Muzza]

When I was a poor teenager there were few things more important to me spend my hardly earned money in than taking a public bus in São Paulo, Brazil. I would travel across town just to go to the airport – and visit the Laselva newsstand. I would stay there for hours reading Autosport, as I didn't have enough cruzados to buy it. After a while the newsstand manager got to know me, and let me carry out my reading sessions (it turned out that he was a racing fan too). I learned a good portion of my English there.

Years later I found a better job, and one of my first decisions was to set money aside to buy Autosport. When I graduated from college I finally had money to subscribe it. I kept the subscription even when I moved across the pond - twice (from South America to Europe, from Europe to North America).

With such a background, it is not difficult to understand that the process that led me to the decision of dropping my subscription was similar to Don Capps': it was not hasty; it did not happen because one or two poor articles, or because of five or six bad issues. Instead, it was quite a painful process, as for years I refused to concede that the magazine, as I had known it, was no more – and it was not turning into what I wanted it to be. I kept on trying and I gave Autosport successive editors and boards several votes of confidence; nevertheless, its quality continued to drop to levels never seen before. Finally I gave up.

Rather surprisingly, I realized that I don’t need Autosport - I can be well informed by reading other magazines or via other media.

Regarding Motor Sport, I bought it every single month for the last six years: I refused to subscribe it as it had become a mere a shade of what it had been (and of what it could be), but I kept on trying... As it happened to Autosport (is this some secret Haymarket agenda? I cannot call it a strategy), Motor Sport also slid down the muddy slope of poor racing journalism until it hit rock bottom last issue. So, no more Motor Sport for me.

I am sorry, but I have grown so disappointed with these two publications that I am convinced that the likelihood of having them going back to their former glory is extremely slim. And, to dismiss any concept that I "just another nostalgia freak", what most upsets me is not what they no longer are. Instead, the saddest thing is that they are not what they could be - and Haymarket has convinced me that, under its management, they will never become.

Sincerely,


Sal Chiappetta
Oak Park, CA, United States

[alesi95]

the only good thing left in autosport is Roebucks fifth column.

[luke]

I did subscribe to autosport for 2 years but now I have ended it straight a way.

[Morris 1100]

John McIlroy,

I first bought Autosport in the early eighties and soon I was buying every issue which was a very hard thing to do in a dark corner of Australia.
To me Autosport was the "bible" If it was written in Autosport it was true!
But times change and Autosport was not giving me the enjoyment that it used to. This was a long and painfull slide and I gave up my subscription a few years ago, for a long while I used to take a look at a copy in the papershop to see if it had improved but I don't even bother anymore.
It used to be informative and a leader, now it is just a shadow of what it used to be and just another glossy car mag.

Sincerely,

Michael Hickey
Goulburn NSW Australia.

[f1steveuk]

The trouble is with the exception of Mr Robuck, most readers of Autosport know more about it than those writing for the magazine. I worked in F1 for nearly seven years, and no one I knew bothered with Autosport! That says it all

[blue nose]

I thought the crashes were great number five is the best IMO but they could have picked a better number 1.

I just hate all the F1 drivel.

[Knowlesy]

O......K.....

[ASCII Man]

[redshoes]

I could live with the crashes feature if it actually had a serious point, for example showing how modern cars are safer. Speaking as a photographer there are some very good pictures there but I would question the sensitivity of using pictures like the one of Francois Delecour where his co-driver is still surrounded by medical emergency crews. If the driver/co-driver had got out of the car and walked away then fair enough but if they had to be carried away on a stretcher then it's difficult to justify the 'not seriously hurt' criteria claimed on the first page.

If you want evidence of the increasing 'tabloid' nature of Autosport you need only turn to page 10/11. A half page photo of a BAR Honda in bluss 555 livery with the worlds "Autosport FIRST PIC" splashed over the top. That log used to be reserved for genuine firsts - spy shots of cars doing secret testing, that sort of thing. It's not until you look closely that you realise it's nothing of the sort. It's an artists impression of how the car MIGHT look IF the team run with a different livery - a libary photo that's been photoshopped.

Firstly why such a big picture, or even why a picture at all. I'm sure most readers could visualise what a blue car looks like. And secondly why caption it in such a sensationalist and deceptive manner.

[Aysedasi]

This is really sad, isn't it? I used to buy Autoschueysport from time to time, but when I "came back to the motor racing fold" in circa 1984 I took out a subscription which I have maintained to this day. I used to look forward to receiving it but it is now a pale shadow of what it was even 20-odd years ago. With the advent of the interenet, of course, none of us really need it anymore and I'm sure there are thousands out there like me who really want to end their subscriptions but just don't quite get around to it......

[Andrew Kitson]

John, if you pop back here to read the latest comments, you may wish to see what our friends over at Atlas are thinking too?
http://forums.atlasf1.com/showthread...=&pagenumber=1

[L-B]

Another Autosport defender here. I have no problem with the article (well apart from including Barrichello at Imola) and I believe thats its actually improved over the last few years. There is still far too much on F1 and far to little on other things but thats to be expected really as F1 is sadly the total selling point of Motor Racing these days.

World motor racing must be incredably hard to cover theres about 600 championships these days and you can't get it all in but I would still prefer an extra page of international results/news Nascar could basically have a page rather than a column and a half that it usually gets its always full of stories.

[Knowlesy]

It's actually improved?

[foreversideways]

Its all very sad really. In trying to appeal to a wider audience all the management have managed to do is loose existing enthusiasts.

[JAG]

The number of replies to this thread at least shows how much people care about the magazine, even if they disagree with the direction it is going in.

Personally I couldn't care less about the tabloid style, but the amount of F1 coverage is indefensible. I could just about put up with the F1 coverage IF other series recieved detailed coverage. Sadly this not the case.

For example the amount of coverage for the LMES Silverstone 1000K was terrible, IMO. The race report lacked detail and the news section, which I was expeting to be buldging with interesting stories from the 1000K weekend, as we see after Le Mans, had just one small Courage story relating to the race.

I would also like to see fewer photos in the 'News' section. Surely this is the one area of the magazine that does not require large numbers of photos.

The longer features in the mag should be interesting, IF, they cover a wide variety of issues. Whats the betting 90% will be F1 related.

Finally I would like to see less emphasis on personallities, and more about the actuall machinary.

[Joe Fan]

John,

I hope you understand as a motorsports fan how the media uses deaths in motorsport to cast negative light on our passion. New media outlets will rarely show excellent passes or brilliant finishes, but as soon as there is a death in motorsport, they all the fatal crash or write articles with the poison pen how motorsport is death sport. I think this is why some are upset with this feature.

[ensign14]

Sometimes you're only as good as your material.

Racing itself has gone downhill over recent years.

Sportscars, rallying, F2, F3...all sanitized and downgraded to the preference of the Great God F1...

No wonder stunts are needed to capture the attention.

[L-B]

Originally posted by knowlesy
It's actually improved?

Yes, it has. The club section is slightly bigger than it was. They do more features outside F1 than they did 2 years ago (when it was really bad) and they cover more results than they used to. Still a lot less than 10 years ago mind you..

Ensign is right as well racing is in a complete state when you step back and look at it. The same team has won F1 for 6 years now and viewers have been turning off again. F3000 is a joke, F3 is fragmented then below that what exactly IS the series to follow? In the US open wheelers are a shadow of what they were thanks to the Cart/Irl war. Nascar is frowned upon by the traditional purest reader. the Japanese scene isn't as strong as it used to be. Rallying in the UK is also a mess withthe British Championship looking a poor shadow, even the World Championship is suffering from lack of good entries.

Also there is no real British Superstar. Coulthard occasionally threatened it but everyone gave up on him. Button will get his ass handed to him by Webber next year. One of our Rally Superstars is recovering from illness the other can't get a ride despite being the most marketable of them all. The IRL boys are doing great but IRL is looked on asthe spawn of satan by most race fans.

How difficult is it to produce a mag in this mess and make it marketable? They can't pitch it at the purest there isn't enough of us, they can't pitch it at the GP as it offends the purest and they lose us. Where do they go with it?

[Fuzzyfelt]

Whilst I do think Autosport has gone downhill a bit, what hasn't?

I started to buy it because of F1, and it was through Autosport that I became aware of, informed about, and interested in other forms of Motorsport that I wouldn't have even heard about...

Won't hear a bad word against it! I mean, it's not as awful as F1 Racing Magazine is it?

[Suzy]

I'm going to defend Autosport here too. How many people watched the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday? How many of you oohed and aahed at the crashes between La Source and Radion? How many of you were astounded by the various punctures and watched the action replays?

Now how many of you marvelled about how all the drivers in those accidents came away unscathed? I know I did. And I will be looking at the photographs in Autosport magazine and thinking "isn't it amazing how safe cars are these days?".

And that is how I interpreted the 100 crashes. I found it incredible that drivers survived all of them. However it could have gone one step further and explained WHY the drivers survived, e.g. the safety roll bars, the crash tests, etc. Maybe that's for an upcoming feature John? Who are the people who designed these cars in such a way that drivers can survive massive accidents?

There are far too many championships to cater for everybody in motor racing. You only have to read other threads in other sub-sections of this forum to see people whining about tiny grids. The failure of In Gear magazine to survive shows that the majority of general race fans couldn't give two hoots about club motor-racing and that is something that will never change unless you can find a broadcaster who will show every single round of every single motor racing event on terrestrial tv at prime time... it ain't gonna happen is it?

As for the rest of you who are going to cancel your subscriptions because Autosport has dared to run this article - why??? It's bad enough the number of you who are planning on slitting your wrists and vowing never to buy another Motorsport again because it's daring to change colour! Hell, it's the same thing on the inside - it's only the colour that's different! Do you refuse to speak to any of your friends when they dye their hair a different colour because that's different? Geez, if that's all you can worry about then you all have very shallow lives!

edited to remove "slightly OT" surplusage.....

[Aysedasi]

Originally posted by Suzy


As for the rest of you who are going to cancel your subscriptions because Autosport has dared to run this article - why??? It's bad enough the number of you who are planning on slitting your wrists and vowing never to buy another Motorsport again because it's daring to change colour! Hell, it's the same thing on the inside - it's only the colour that's different! Do you refuse to speak to any of your friends when they dye their hair a different colour because that's different? Geez, if that's all you can worry about then you all have very shallow lives!

Erm, calm down a bit! I've been toying with the idea of cancelling my subscription for years. Never got around to it. An article on crashes isn't going to persuade me to do it, nor would a change of colour. I guess I'd finally cancel it the day I pick it up off the front map and realise there's nothing in it which I consider worth reading.......